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Anna Louise Curtis (1861-1942)
in Cahaba, Dallas County, Alabama |Baptism = |Death = in Birmingham, Jefferson County, Alabama |Father = Joseph Riley Curtis |Mother = Anna Eleanor Cunningham |Spouse = Charles Bertrand Powell |Marriage = in Shelby Springs, Shelby County, Alabama |2nd Spouse = |2nd Marriage = |3rd Spouse = |3rd Marriage = |4th Spouse = |4th Marriage = |5th Spouse = |5th Marriage = |Burial = Charles Bertrand Powell plot, Block 19, Elmwood Cemetery, Birmingham, Jefferson County, Alabama }} Anna Louise Curtis was the third child of Joseph Curtis and Annie Cunningham, but the second to survive to adulthood. She was born into turbulent times and went through many changes before she was even ten years old. Her parents welcomed her on the eve of the Civil War and a year later, her father enlisted. Two months after that he was killed in battle. Before Louise was 4, her mother remarried, but this new stepfather disappeared within weeks. Later that year, county voters opted to shift the county seat from her Louise's hometown of Cahaba to nearby Selma. Cahaba, once the state capital, was swiftly abandoned. Lousie then found herself living in Montgomery, the current state capital. Finally, with a marriage to a state legislator, Annie secured some stability for herself and her two daughters as they moved north to Brierfield. While Louise's sister Kathrine married 6 years later, Louise settled into the life of a schoolteacher and probably did not expect to get married. She probably moved to Columbiana, where her aunt and uncle, Judge N. B. and Adelaide Mardis lived. And then she met C. B. Powell, a rising young lawyer just moved to the growing city of Birmingham from Helena, AR. They married in 1889 at the Shelby Springs Resort (not far from Columbiana) and removed to Birmingham. Here she raised four children and, later, helped raise her two granddaughters. She also was involved in many social circles and cultivated a garden of nearly one acre. Her granddaughters loved her, even though she was strict and a bit Victorian. Widowed in 1923 and facing financial hardships, she soldiered on. She lived to see her granddaughters married, but died just a few years later. Louise's granddaughter Chrystobel, my grandmother, wrote this memorial poem of her, entitled "Louise": :"Broad and twisted you sat there :Oh how we loved you so :Hair wrapped round like a halo :We knew soon you would go :You taught us all about beauty :And also all about love :You live on a cloud painting sunshine :With all the angels above." Children |- |colspan="3" bgcolor="#FFfce0" style="color: #000000;" |'Children of Charles Bertrand Powell and Anna Louise Curtis' |Birth place = Birmingham, Jefferson County, Alabama |Death = |Death place = Mobile, Mobile County, Alabama}} |Birth place = Birmingham, Jefferson County, Alabama |Death = |Death place = Birmingham, Jefferson County, Alabama}} |Birth place = Birmingham, Jefferson County, Alabama |Death = |Death place = Birmingham, Jefferson County, Alabama}} or |Birth place = Birmingham, Jefferson County, Alabama |Death = |Death place = Birmingham, Jefferson County, Alabama}} References *Anderson, Charles Clifford, Jr. Memories of Louise Powell as told by my grandmother. *Anderson, Charles Wittichen. Visit to Elmwood Cemetery. *Anderson, Julia Wittichen. Memories of Louise Powell as told by my grandmother. *Powell, C. B., and A. L. Curtis. Examination of wedding band. *Powell/Sinclair Family Bible Records *Birmingham News, 1957. Obituary of Gladys Powell *Birmingham News, 1942. Obituary of Anna Louise Powell *FamilySearch.org **1880 US Census - Bibb County, Alabama **International Genealogical Index **Social Security Death Index *Shelby County Reporter?, 1870. Marriage of Jesse Mahan to Mrs. Anna Curtis. Category:Curtis (surname) Curtis, Anna Louise Curtis, Anna Louise Curtis, Anna Louise Curtis, Anna Louise Category:Non-SMW people articles